'Once a Bulldawg, Always a Bulldawg'

It wasn’t an easy decision for Hylton High School Principal . After eight years, the leader who is beloved by students, parents and teachers alike is moving on to lead the county school system’s Office of Student Services.

Custard is taking the new position for many of the same reasons she has loved being principal at Hylton: she wants to have a direct impact on students in their academic and personal development.

“It gives me an opportunity to work with all of the students and families throughout the school division,” Custard said. “That’s important. I enjoy working with students, I enjoy working with families.”

But in some ways, Custard feels as if she is leaving a family. “I have mixed emotions,” she said. “Ever since I’ve been at Hylton, I’ve tried to establish the family culture, and I think we have that.”

Assistant Principal Brenda Byrd agrees. “She has instilled in the school a sense of family,” Byrd said. “She truly lives and models that we are family.”

Custard is known for finding unique ways to reward students for performance and behavior, even when funding doesn’t seem to be available, and for not being afraid to have fun with her students.

Each year at homecoming, Custard typically finds some “wild and crazy” way to make her entrance to crown the homecoming queen. “One year she rode in on a big horse,” Byrd said. “One year she drove in in a limo, and one year she had young men carrying her.” Byrd said that for one homecoming, Custard planned to make her entrance by skydiving to the 50-yard-line of the football field, but the school board nixed that plan because of liability.

Byrd said that is just one example of how Custard has endeared herself to students and parents alike. “She has been a cheerleader for the school and students as we’ve gone through No Child Left Behind,” Byrd said. Custard has pursued grants and community partnerships to fill in when funding was not available, ensuring that technology such as “smart boards,” interactive whiteboards, are available in classrooms.

Custard has also implemented morning announcements to highlight students’ achievements and reward them with things like movie passes, which she gets by pursuing relationships with local businesses.

Custard said that at this point, she is still focused on finishing her duties at Hylton, getting students through SOL testing, prom and graduation. “I haven’t really transitioned yet,” she said.

“Graduation is always the culminating event of any school year,” Custard said. “Graduation is always difficult for me, but I know this one will be. It will probably hit me then, ‘Wow, this is my last graduation for Hylton.’”

At the school’s recent sports awards banquet, Activities Director Sal Colangelo presented Custard with a picture of herself at homecoming. The caption: “Once a Bulldawg, always a Bulldawg. We are family.”